as we're always having a blast at meetups (and we've met MANY of you there already!), we're trying to host a 'World Meetup' this year in one month from now. We'll need your help to make this happen: please read the following blog post:

As already discused with Bart via email, I have a few venues that may be suitable on the outskirts of Southampton (Hampshire, England) within 5/10 minutes drive of junction 5 or 7 of the M27 (Eastleigh/Hedge End).

@Stop4stuff: it may work better if you create the meetup on the Meetup.com page, you can use that too to find out if people are interested. I think people are more likely to find your meetup there than here on the forum.

Update: After less than one week, we have 44 meetups planned. Some are still small (1-2 persons), but we'll do our best to reach all local community members over the next few weeks, and fill them up. If you're interested in a nice social 3D printing event in your area, please go ahead and create a meetup as well!

Wow! We already have 47 events planned for our World Meetup Day on February 28th, including events in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia! Some are still small, but now that the list is available, it'll be easier for others to join you.

During the next four weeks we will be posting updates here on the forum. This week, we'll focus on the first preparations of your meetup. If you have any questions, please discuss them here with the other hosts.

What is required of a Shapeways Meetup host?

We are looking for people who enjoy meeting others and talk about design and 3D printing. As a host, you are 'in charge' of picking a venue and welcoming everyone - but you will not be alone! Through Meetup you can discuss your event with others or even co-host it.

How do I start a Shapeways Meetup?

1. Check our World Meetup page to see if there is already a group of people in your area. If not, create your own! (Search for your town and click on 'Start a new community in...') If you're not sure if there are other members in your area, don't worry - just by adding your meetup to the list you may be able to find each other.

2. Select a time. Meetings in the early evening (say, 7pm-9pm) usually work best, but feel free to pick any other time.

3. Find a location. Good spots include bars (our favorite), schools and a meeting room at work. Call to see if they can host 10-20 people (the average meetup size). Do not accept any financial obligations for space - people will pay their own drinks and snacks. Do you find it hard to pick a location? Discuss it with your meetup members or here on the forum.

Next Steps

Next week, we will be back with some suggestions on how to give your meetup some good publicity and on how we are going to help you with that. Stay tuned!

How are the World Meetup preparations coming along? Last week I promised you that we'd send you more information on how to promote your event. We're designing a flyer that you can use, but it takes a little longer then I thought. It should be ready early next week, so I'll be back in touch with you then!

In the mean time, it would be great if you could all introduce yourselves on our forum. That way, we can start sharing questions and experiences there and make everybody's meetup better. Please add your message to this thread!

I'm Ruby and I'll be hosting the San Francisco Shapeway's meetup. I really wanted it to happen and since no one had come forward I decided to make it happen. I'm a 3D artist who's been doing this for ages. I got my start in Germany on big old SGI machines doing films, commercials., and music videos. I love Z-brush as it's finally enabled me to model. I have never been much of a poly pusher. Being able to print stuff in 3D is amazing. I have created some jewelry and hat ornaments and plan on doing shoes with a shoe designer. I can't wait to meet other people and swap stories and hear what they have made.

The event will be located at a local bar that's easy walking distance from 24th street BART and a number of buses. It's also not on the main street so parking might actually be possible!

I'm hosting the Shapeways World Meetup in Perth Australia. It seems the Shapeways World Meetup page can't be found on the local Meetup page; I can only find it if I log onto the US site. This is making it hard to communicate and find more people to attend. I understand you have had difficulty contacting me. My email for future correspondence is furniture@iinet.net.au.

Hello everyone! We have a little less than two weeks left until February 28th, so it's time to start making some noise and make sure everyone in your area knows about the event! We will soon start some serious promotion, but you can help as well. Today I'll share some suggestions for promotion in your local community.

Are there any design schools, jewelry workshops, product design departments on universities in your area? You can try reaching out through their student associations, or look for contact information on their websites.

Online

Use Meetup to find related communities in your area and send them a friendly note to invite them to your meetup. I looked in the Amsterdam area and found tons of '3D printing', 'Design', 'Rapid Prototyping', 'Jewelry' communities - you name it. It only takes a few minutes and you're related to mailing three groups per day. Remember to be personal, respectful and don't spam!

Shops, clubs etc.

Our designers have created a flyer that you can leave on message-boards in shops, clubs etc (see the image above). Just download the PDF, write the time and location on it and leave it somewhere. Again: be respectful and ask for permission.

I'm Stein and I'll be the host for the meetup in Arnhem (Netherlands). I hope to meet more shapers who live in the neighbourhood but at this point my meeting is still kinda lonely. Since november last year I started my own design company specialized in personalized 3d printed products but I will tell everything about it at the meetup.

The event will take place at "Het Proeflokaal, de nieuwe waag". Parking will not be a problem because it is right in front of the Markt. Parking space for several hunderds of cars.

So to all dutchies, Join!

-Stein de Haan-

UPDATE: I Just figured out that this sunday there is an event about 3D printing in cafe Dudok, Arnhem. I will also join this event and will try to get some people to join mine but it could be difficult to have two simulair events within a short period of time. The other event is a reading with Siert Wijnia (Directeur Ultimaker) and Rick Companje (Doodle3D). I Think it is intresting so other Shapers feel also free to join this one

I return to the "cité des sciences" with lots of good news:
we would have the "carrefour numérique" for us 19h to 21h and the possibility of having drinks, a space furnished with armchairs, a table to present our prod and even a projector screen if needed.
And of course access to the FabLab for the curious

@Mikie2: we will be shipping out the samples tomorrow. Be advised though that we cannot afford to send a sample box to every single meetup, only to the largest ones. The meetups are mostly meant as a social event, so even without sample models you should be able to have a good evening

Maybe you've already noticed, but we are currently running a site-wide banner for our World Meetup day (see the top of the page). In addition, we'll start some campaigns on Facebook to try and drive more visitors to your events.

Attention Toronto and GTA members: There is a Toronto-based group on MeetUp called 3D Printing Group. I joined their group and I have sent a suggestion to them (surely ONE of them must be a member here?!) that perhaps they can host the Toronto Shapeways World MeetUp Day since they have a regular location that they use... Damn long distance from me but if they do it I'm hoping I can attend.

Glenn

EDIT: I just heard from one of the members of that group. It seems that because many of the office employees (where they meet) will be out of town that day they cannot host the Meet... Very receptive to Shapeways Toronto members meeting there in the future, though.

with just two more days until the Shapeways World Meetup, it's time for our final update. Things are getting pretty hectic around here, now that we have meetups in over 80 cities with more than 400 participants! We're all *very* excited to see what's about to happen

What can you still do before the meetup?

Please make sure you have selected a location, and add it to the meetup at the top of your page. If the venue is big, explain where people can find you or how they can recognize you.

We're still promoting the event everywhere we can: there is now a banner on every page of Shapeways.com, we have80 targeted campaigns active on Facebook, and we are reaching out to the press, all to get more people to your meetup! You can still promote the event yourself as well: check out the tips above for some ideas.

Also, post on Twitter or Facebook! For our event's hashtag, see below.

Event hashtag: #SWmeetup

We have settled on using the #SWmeetup hashtag on social media. Please use this in all your communication on social media.

What's going to happen during the World Meetup Day?

Well, whatever YOU want . But here are some practical things:

- To help people find the spot, we've created a 'Shapeways Meetup is Here' flyer for you. Download it here, print it out, and stick it to the door of your venue (don't forget to ask for permission!).

- When people arrive, introduce yourself and explain how the evening is going to work ('everybody buys their own drinks', for example).

- Not everyone who signs up for a meetup will actually show up. It would be very helpful if you could count the number of visitors and let us know afterwards.

Share your event with the world!

We'll be sharing your stories with the entire worldwide community throughout the entire day! During the event, please share stories, photographs and videos on Twitter (use hashtag #SWmeetup), or mail them to community@shapeways.com. We will collect them and repost everything on our Tumblr blog on http://shapeways.tumblr.com

Also, it would be grand if we could receive a short report of your evening after the event with a cool picture so we can write a blogpost about what happened everywhere.